


want

by underneath_this_skin_is_a_human



Category: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: Angst, Angst and Porn, Cheating, F/M, Hand Jobs, Masturbation, Oral Sex, Porn With Plot, Riding, Shameless Smut, Smut, Vaginal Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:13:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23422246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/underneath_this_skin_is_a_human/pseuds/underneath_this_skin_is_a_human
Summary: Charlotte had let Ted sleep with her five times. Yes, she was keeping count. Five times that she’d broken her marriage vows for a few stolen minutes of worship from a man that she wasn’t in love with.This night was going to be the sixth time. Though, even she had to admit, something about this night was different than the others.
Relationships: Charlotte/Ted (The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals), Charlotte/Ted Spankoffski
Comments: 8
Kudos: 30





	want

The neon light of the diner was flickering, casting the night in green and blue.

Ted was almost done with his cigarette and Charlotte hadn’t called yet. As much as he wanted to take charge, to cause some shit, he knew he didn’t have the balls to do it.

One time he’d slipped up in a moment of desperation and rang her in the middle of the night, fully aware of the fact that it was a fucked up, stupid thing to do, and was met with his voice. Sam. Confused, full of sleep, muttering “Hello?” And all Ted could do was squeak out a “Sorry, wrong number.”

Because he was a coward. A coward that had no real claim to Charlotte at all. He could only manage to get her attention once a week, only for quick, quiet interludes, and they both knew it wasn’t Ted she was thinking about during.

His pocket buzzed with a shitty royalty free knock-off pop beat.

“‘Sup?” Did his voice just crack? He was a fucking thirty year old man and his voice was cracking.

Charlotte’s soft tone made his heart pick up speed. “I know it’s dumb to be on the phone while driving”-she was always tearing herself down-“but I wanted to explain why I’m-” 

“Nah, it’s fine.”

“-going to be late,” she continued. “Sam took a while falling asleep, so...But I’ll be there in, well, a few seconds.”

“Okay, yeah. Cool.”

“Okay then.” And she hung up.

Cool? Why was he so standoffish? She was driving an hour out of town to meet him. A random hook-up wouldn’t do that, right? Right?

Yeah, she’s sneaking out in the middle of the night to spite her husband in the hopes that she’ll be caught, he reminded himself. It wasn’t ever about Ted. It was about Sam.

But still. His heart was racing from her call.

In preparation, he ran a hand back through his hair, tugged at the collar of his shirt. Dark blue with a light floral pattern, classy but laid back. He’d traded in his slacks for black jeans. He was trying.

Ted was scanning the parking lot like a hawk so that when Charlotte’s car crawled on in-everything she did was with timid care-he leaned back onto the hood of his car and pretended he didn’t notice. He was still feigning indifference when she walked up, nervously sidling next to him.

“Hi.”

The bare skin of her arm was touching his, springing up goosebumps. She had ditched her usual frumpy too big sweater, replacing it with a dress that he’d never seen her in before, a deep green that offset her auburn hair perfectly, stopping right above the knee and dipping low in the bust area.

He wanted to tell her how good she looked. He should tell her how good she looked. But the voice in the back of Ted’s mind also wanted to ask if she got that dress to impress Sam, so instead he just said, “Hey.”

Charlotte gently poked his chest. Her fingernails were carefully polished in a easily missable pink. “You look good.”

“Yeah, thanks. You too.” He knew he should have said something. “Wanna get something to eat?”

Charlotte did want something to eat thank you very much, but she didn’t want to be seen out on a date with her coworker. Was this a date? This wasn’t a date. Her wide eyes flicked around the lot apprehensively. “Here? But what if…” How much would it hurt Ted’s feelings if she finished her sentence? Did he even care? He knew they were just a hookup, in fact, he probably preferred it that way.

He’d known it was coming so he was prepared when he had to hide the slap of her words unsaid. “What if someone sees us?” he finished. He let the nasty side of his personality leak out. Stamped out his cigarette, adopted a scowl. “Look, it’s not like we’re going to be fucking in the booth. I just wanted to know if you were hungry.”

Charlotte winced. She wanted to shush him but the raising of his voice reminded her of Sam when he was in a mood, so she shrank back into the corner of herself. It was easier to go along with things, she reminded herself, it caused less trouble.

“Sure. Let’s get some food.” It was almost a whisper.

Ted wanted to apologize. Ted knew he should apologize. But he was busy pretending to be a dick, so they went inside and grabbed a booth. He sat down first, scooting over to let her have a seat next to him, but she slid in across from him.

“Listen,” he started, but the waitress in her canary yellow uniform cut into his words with a “What can I get y’all?” Both Charlotte and Ted started at the same time, orders overlapping.

He nodded her way. “Go ahead.”

“Just a coffee,” Charlotte breathed. “One milk. Two sugars.”

“And you?”

“A slice of pumpkin pie. Thanks.” 

“Nothing to drink for you?” the waitress directed at Ted.

Directing a conspiratorial smirk at Charlotte, he answered, “Nah. We’ll share.” She kicked him in the shin under the table, but the pain was worth it to see the shock widen her jade eyes. “Just kidding. Yeah, I’m fine.”

The waitress, grinning despite the tension in the air, cast a fond look at the two of them. “I’ll be right back.”

Ted leaned in, lowering his voice for her sake. “Listen, I shouldn’t have said that shit outside. But it’s not like we’re in Hatchetfield. We planned to come out here so we could be alone.”

“I know.” She sighed.

Realistically, Charlotte knew she didn’t have much of a reason to worry. They decided on a place out of town. No one would recognize them. And no one had any reason to wonder why they were there together. From an outside perspective they could be two friends seeing each for the first time in years or a couple on a first date.

That didn’t stop her from making up a million bad case scenarios in her mind. Someone from the office could happen to be taking a late night drive and stop in for some coffee. A woman from her book club could think oh, how quaint is this place? and order a pastry. Sam could wake up and find her gone, follow a tracker that was installed in their car in case it was stolen, and find her here and…

And what? Sam didn’t care enough to follow her anywhere. He didn’t care enough to notice that she’d cooked his favorite meal that night, that she plied him with beer, that she’d been bouncing her knee for hours.

Years had been spent crafting a perfect life, one that wouldn’t crack under scrutiny. But the truth was that Charlotte knew exactly where all the cracks were, tried to cover some up with plastered on kindness and slowly fading hope, but was slowly cracking away at some with her own hammer.

Like with Ted.

Yes, Sam had a worrisome temper, and he didn’t have enough time to ask about her day, and he stepped out on her with other women on occasion. But he was her husband. They’d promised each other that when life got tough they’d work things out.

So why had she snuck out to spend the night with another man? To spend the night with Ted, in particular? He told annoying jokes and he encouraged her to smoke. This was a man that knew she had a husband, but had decided to pursue her anyway. And yet…

“So, how was your day?” he asked, chipping away at the smallest crack in her perfect life.

“You really want to know?”

“Yeah, why not?”

Charlotte met his gaze across the table. His expression was sincere enough, well, sincere enough for Ted. But why did he care?

“Alright. Well, let’s see…”

Ted listened to her talk about her day, about the gardening she had done in the morning, though she claimed to be awful at it, about her baking and how the smell of lemon bars filled her house in a way that kept her energized in a way that even coffee couldn’t, and even though he wasn’t all that interested in a dime a dozen romance novel, he asked about her book club.

“Whaddaya’ like about your book?”

She shook her head, self-conscious. “I don’t know.”

“Ah, c’mon,” he insisted. “Like I’m gonna’ judge you. I haven’t had the time to read since high school and you don’t even want to know the stupid shit I was into then.”

“I don’t know. There’s just...there’s something about fiction. Most of the time, no matter how bad it gets, things will get solved. There’s always going to be an ending where all the threads will come together neatly and happily. You know?”

As Charlotte spoke, her face lit up, alive and excited in a way that was at extreme odds with the usual controlled demure facade she built up. Ted didn’t love gardening or baking or books but maybe he did love-he wasn’t in love with Charlotte. This was a hookup and she was married for fucks sake.

“Sorry, y’all,” the waitress slid in, dropping off their orders. “We’re having kind of a busy night. Hope y’all enjoy and call me over if ya’ need anything else, alright?”

Charlotte nodded, took a sip of her coffee, but waited to wince until the waitress was gone.

“That bad?” Ted asked.

“It’s not the worst I’ve ever had, but it’s certainly not the best.”

“Like me?” he joked. Neither of them laughed. To cut the tension, he held out a bite of his pumpkin pie for her. “Maybe this will help the taste?”

Her eyebrows flew up. “Nope. No way.” There was no way she was letting him feed her.

A huge smile took over his face, his eyes crinkling and teeth bared in a way that forgot self-consciousness. Charlotte didn’t want to admit it but it was really kind of...cute.

“You sure? ‘Cause it’d be super rude of me to keep this pie all to myself.” Ted made a huge production of shoving the pie into his mouth, closing his eyes and screwing up his face in mock ecstasy. The fake moans coming from his mouth were absolutely obscene. “Mmm, oh fuck. It’s so moist-”

Feeling the eyes of the whole diner on them, Charlotte’s face was on fire. She had to stop him. “Fine. Alright. I’ll have some just-just shut up.”

“Alright.” He shrugged, acting like it wasn’t his plan all along to have her cave, like he didn’t know how to pull her strings.

There was a huge piece of pie on the end of his fork. This was going to be humiliating, wasn’t it? His expression shifted so quickly from joking to anticipatory. Eyes dark, dark, dark watching her as he told her to “open up” and her heartbeat thumped in her ears as she complied, wrapping her lips around the fork, feeling the rich weight of the pie on her tongue, the starchy sweetness.

Something inside him set on fire as her tongue darted over her lips to clean off the excess filing. This was just pie. How the fuck did she-sitting feet apart, not touching-make him feel like this?

“Melts in your mouth.” Charlotte smirked. Two could play at this game. Her foot found his under the table. His brows furrowed in confusion. Then she continued traveling up his leg to his ankle, the curve of his calf, to the inside of his thigh and pressed, satisfied to see his mouth fall open, dark eyelashes flutter.

The pie had been a joke, but fuck, Charlotte was a mastermind. Where had this newfound confidence come from? And how could he take advantage of it while it was still there?

Ted waved over the waitress. “I think we’re ready to go. Uh, the pie was great.” He couldn’t keep the smile out of his voice. “Here you go.”

At the sight of the twenty dollar tip, the waitress raised her eyebrows, but she didn’t question it. “I don’t mean to be nosy, but how long have y’all known each other? You’re so cute together.”

Ted opened his mouth, was about to say “we’re not together” but Charlotte answered first. “This is our first date, actually.” Which wasn’t a lie, considering it was the first time they’d ever been out in public together.

“Geez, that’s a good sign then. I’ve seen couples married for years that come in with less chemistry than y’all.”

He saw Charlotte’s happiness falter for a second, knowing full well the comment had struck home. “Thanks,” he answered for the both of them.

Even though she still played up being a couple, letting him wrap his arm around her shoulder and pull her close, on the walk to the parking lot Charlotte was completely silent. The mood had worn off and he was left wondering where they were with each other.

“Can I have a cigarette?” she asked, avoiding his eyes.

“Yeah, sure.” He fished the pack out of his pocket, handed her a cigarette, and lit it, thinking all the while about how Charlotte was the whole reason he’d started smoking.

At work, she was the only one that went out for smoke break. He was new and already falling into the role of class clown asshole that he’d fit into his whole life, but was still holding out some sort of hope he’d be able to strike up conversation with the quiet redhead.

So Ted asked to borrow a smoke one day. And his jokes were rusty and she was slow to smile. But day after day, smoke after smoke, Charlotte would accidently giggle at something he said. She would lean in closer.

Finally, after months of trying, he’d managed to steal a quick kiss with a “You’ve got something on your face. Uh, no, lower. I’ll get it.” Really, he didn’t understand why a lame ass line would swoon a girl like Charlotte. Until he found out about the state of her marriage. How Sam would blatantly ignore her, make her feel small, flaunt his affairs. Attention, that’s all she wanted, and she wanted it so badly. If anything, Ted could relate to that.

Maybe he was ignoring the picture of her and Sam that she kept on her desk. Maybe, in the beginning, it was a turn on for him that she was taken. Maybe now it was just enough to get Charlotte to smile.

“Are we taking my car or yours?”

“Whatever,” she exhaled.

“If you’re not in the mood, we don’t have to do this-”

“I want to do this. Hey.” She whammed her free hand onto his chest. “I want to do this.” 

“Good.” He didn’t know what to do with her renewed enthusiasm. A laugh escaped. “Awesome.”

Charlotte put out her cigarette. Her fingers balled the front of his shirt. “Unless you’re too chickenshit,” she teased, a little too soft to be badass.

He leaned forward, letting his voice lower into a growl. “It’s so fucking hot when you cuss.”

A tingle zinged up her spine at the warmth of his breath on her ear. His lips pressed at the corner of her jaw. The base of her neck. Her fingers tugged his chin up to catch his mouth, starting off with a small peck, but building to his usual sloppy tongue kisses. It would be so easy to forget where they were, who they were…

She forced herself to pull away. “Let’s take my car.”

“Sounds great, babe.” It was a slip-”babe”-and Ted was about to beat himself up for it, but for just a second he managed to spot the corner of Charlotte’s mouth lifting fondly.

As he drove, he had a hand draped lazily over the wheel and the other resting on her bare knee. Every green light they hit, Charlotte could feel it climb a little higher. Oh, he knew what he was doing, warm palm shifting up the hem of her dress so that his fingers were resting against the lowest part of her thigh, shit eating grin stretching across his face.

But Ted had always known what he was doing, hadn’t he? She’d tried to convince herself in the beginning that it was just boredom that drove him to always having something to say to her during their smokes. It was the good natured part of him that would offer to help her with work. Thought it was the familiarity of some sort of friendship when he would gently tap her shoulder as he passed her desk. 

Charlotte’s state of denial started to shatter with the break room incident. Her offering to pour coffee and him looking for a mug, and “Ah, shit, the mugs are above you, Charlotte” and him leaning in, pressing up against her as he reached for seconds too long so that she could feel how hard he was behind her. No one else knew. His whispered “sorry” in her ear and her “that’s fine” were too quiet amongst the early morning rush.

She didn’t go out for a smoke that day, even though her head hurt and her hands shook for want of it. A large part of her was deathly afraid.

Not of Ted. Ted was easy to read, because he was run by desperation, desperation to be the most noticed, the wittiest, the most bothersome. No, she was afraid of her own desperation, because it was something that she’d had years to bury down deep. The desperation of being wanted.

Sam hadn’t wanted to be with her since the earliest years of their relationship. And Charlotte had thought that it was her fault, she felt too much, expected too much of him. 

But then she found out about the endless number of other women and realized that he wanted as deeply, if not more deeply than her. He just didn’t want her. Then, she knew it was her fault. She wasn’t desirable. So she drew back into herself, hiding under her long skirts and ugly sweaters and she threw herself into other things so that she wouldn’t have to think about the fact it was her own fault that she felt this bad.

It must’ve been so obvious to Ted, her desperation, because he was made of it himself. Without trying, she’d been a magnet. So when he’d leaned in for that first kiss, she’d let him, because her head hurt and her hands shook for want of it.

Charlotte had let Ted sleep with her five times. Yes, she was keeping count. Five times that she’d broken her marriage vows for a few stolen minutes of worship from a man that she wasn’t in love with.

This night was going to be the sixth time. Though, even she had to admit, something about this night was different than the others.

Ted hadn’t ever been great with plans, but he’d been able to come through with a room in a motel that didn’t look like it would give anyone fleas. The look on Charlotte’s face seemed unsure, so he felt as though he should explain himself. “It’s the best I could get on such short notice.”

“It’s fine.”

The moment the door shut behind them, the room became a vacuum of tension. Charlotte realized they’d never had this much free time to themselves before. They could do anything they wanted. Saying that out loud seemed dangerous.

“Pretty big bed.” Ted grinned as he tossed himself onto the bed haphazardly. He was stretched out on his side, grinning wickedly.

Charlotte stepped out of her shoes and let her hair down. The auburn curls fell to frame her face beautifully. His eyes were already undressing her. She reached for the light switch.

He got up quick, caught her wrist. “Don’t.”

“But…” She ducked her face into her shoulder, unable to face him.

Brushing her hair out of the way, he pressed a kiss to her neck. “I want to be able to see you.”

“Oh my god.” Charlotte shook her head, cheeks burning furiously.

His hand slid up her wrist slowly to her shoulder, then down to cup her breast for just a moment before tracing her waist, the lovely curve of her hip, the length of her thigh, so that he could take the hem of her dress and tug it up over her head.

Out of instinct, her hands came up to cover herself. Sensing her discomfort, Ted took her hands and placed them on his chest instead. He wanted nothing more than to get those panties off of her, but he also wanted Charlotte to be comfortable. 

“Undress me,” he offered.

She was grateful to have something to focus on that wasn’t her own body. Each of his shirt buttons were undone with care, slowly but surely revealing olive toned skin. He was slim, the taut plane of his stomach moving with each steady breath. How could he be so calm? 

Her hands moved to his belt, shaking a bit. Ted placed his hands on top of hers, helping her undo his belt and then his fly. He kicked off his own jeans.

“Well,” he grinned. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”

Charlotte sucked in a breath, fighting off laughter. “You are such a…”

“Yeah?” He waggled his eyebrows.

“Yeah.”

They lowered their underwear and stepped out of them. They’d never been fully naked in front of each other before. Every time they got together was rushed, clothing rucked up instead of discarded.

Charlotte kept trained on Ted’s face, too ashamed and aware of herself. His eyes were burning into her, grazing hungrily over every inch of her body. There were so many things he wanted to do with her, if only she’d let him.

“You’re amazing.” He led her to the edge of the bed and dropped to his knees.

“You don’t have to-” she started.

“I want to. I want to taste you,” he told her, nuzzling his cheek against her thigh. His facial hair tickled her sensitive skin. “Please?”

As an answer Charlotte opened her legs, just a little.

Starting at the knees, he massaged his way up her legs to her thighs and drew them apart further. The moment he ran his mouth along her, Charlotte was sinking back into the mattress, giving in. Multitasking, he used his tongue to dip into her and his hand to rub at her clit. No amount of practice she’d had at being quiet could stop the moans from ripping out of her mouth. Her body was on fire. Need taking over, she dug her fingers into Ted’s hair, urging him on. He picked up the pace and soon small earthquakes were erupting throughout her body. All of her felt molten. 

Ted joined her on the bed, lying on his side and staring down at her with satisfaction. His fingers traced random patterns on her stomach. “I’m that good, huh?” he teased.

“You’re a prick.” She laughed at his surprised expression and dragged her blissed out limbs up so that she could press herself against him. He licked into her mouth, as desperate as ever. She could feel him, hot and heavy against her leg.

“What do you want?” he asked, still eager to please.

Just this once, Charlotte let herself be bold, looking straight into his eyes while telling him, “Touch yourself.”

He twitched just at her words. Then, began stroking himself. It was such a simple thing, her watching him, but the way her eyes were constantly flicking between his hand working and his face, engaged, made all the difference.

“Jesus,” he shuddered. “If I knew you were this kinky…”

She didn’t laugh, just stroked her hand up his thigh. The dark hair there was...cute. Giving Ted a break, she knocked his hand out of the way and took over. Thumbing at the precum gathering at his tip, making his head drop onto her shoulder, groaning, “Oh, fuck” and using it as lubrication as she stroked him tortuously slow. He started fucking into her hand. 

Eventually, he had to warn, “You gotta’ stop soon. I want to be able to feel you, you know?” 

“Go ahead.” She was trying to keep her cool. Charlotte waited for him to crawl over.

He didn’t, shook his head, said in a low, pleasure drunk voice, “Nah, you got to watch me. Now I want to see you ride me.” Ted patted his thighs. “Climb on top.”

This fearlessness was still new to Charlotte, it still embarrassed her sometimes, when she enjoyed how crude he was. Cautiously, she straddled his hips and he helped guide her down. They both gasped as he entered her.

As she sank lower, he nodded, encouraging her. “There you go. You look fucking stunning, Charlotte.”

She was struggling to get used to the feeling of him filling her up this way, being this close. His hands found her waist, urging her on. For leverage, she placed her hands on his chest, rising and sinking, attempting to find some sort of rhythm. He matched her pace, bucking up into her.

The look on Ted’s face was the best kind of reward, biting back groans when his lips weren’t just gaping at the sight of her, his eyes hooded with satisfaction, and those eyelashes, dark and longer than any girls’, fluttering.

“Thank you,” she managed.

“God, for what?”

Charlotte lost her bravery, shook her head.

In retaliation, Ted reached down between them to thumb at her clit, making her legs tremble beneath her. He sat up, cradling her in his lap and taking over, thrusting up into her.

“Don’t thank me,” he groaned into her neck. “Because I’ve thought about doing this to you for days, fucking touched myself while thinking about this. You’re a fucking dream.”

There was no way she’d ever be able to tell if he was lying or not. Did she care? No. She dug her fingers into his shoulder blades as she rode out her last waves of pleasure.

He pushed her onto her back, kissing her and driving into her the last few times before he came. “Thank you,” he said, brushing her hair away from her face where the sweat had stuck to it. When he rolled onto his side, he pulled Charlotte along with him, circling her in his arms.

Her mind was tv static. This time was different. How was this time any different?

If Charlotte had asked him anything right then, Ted would’ve told her the truth. That he wanted to stay here, so he could keep her in his arms a little while longer. That it was going to kill him the moment she retreated back into herself. That he would run with her as far away from Hatchetfield as they could get. That he…

“Charlotte,” he spoke into her hair. “Can I tell you something?”

Since when was it hard for Ted to speak his mind? She tensed. He wasn’t about to say...no, he wouldn’t. He couldn’t do that to her. She felt bad enough as it was. Please don’t. “Yeah,” she squeaked, waiting for the blow to come.

At the last moment, he chickened out. Instead he said, “You know, nobody likes me-” 

She had no idea where he was going with his thoughts, but she let out a sigh of relief for what he wasn’t saying.

“That’s not true.”

“Okay, let’s not lie to ourselves.” He chuckled at his own expense. “But seriously. None of the friends I made in college reach out. All of my exes have me blocked on their social media. I annoy the shit out of Bill, but he’s too nice to say anything about it. And Paul, well, I don’t think Paul likes anyone. But you…I...What I’m saying is, is that you’re my only friend.”

Charlotte swallowed down the feelings rising in her throat. But she couldn’t stop her eyes from tearing up. What was she supposed to say? She fumbled. “I-I’m happy to be your friend. Thank you.”

“Jesus, Charlotte, don’t pity me,” Ted forced laughter to cut the pain. 

“That’s not-”

“It was a joke.” 

“Alright,” she murmured, about to unwind herself from his arms.

He rolled her over so she was facing him. She hoped her face was blank enough for him to not be able to read her. “Okay,” he said, desperation showing through his voice. “You can pity me a little. Just stay for a while. Please.”

How did people do this? How did they have flings and keep their emotions separate? Her heart hurt for Ted. Her heart hurt for Sam. Her heart hurt for herself.

She didn’t protest that hard. “I have to get going-”

“We can rest,” he insisted. “You can’t drive right now. You didn’t even drink your coffee at the diner.”

“What if I fall asleep?” What if she didn’t want to leave?

“I’ll wake you up.”

“Okay,” she gave in, letting him pull her into his chest so that she could hear the excitement showing through in his heartbeat.

Charlotte did fall asleep. And she woke up at three o’clock, sweat sticky and engulfed by Ted’s body, to the sound of a...was that her phone? Oh no, oh no, oh no. She threw herself out of the bed and ripped through her purse to find her cell phone. 

“Yes?” she answered, knowing full well who it was.

“Where the hell are you, Charlotte?” Sam thundered. “It’s the middle of the fucking night. I was climbing into bed and guess who’s not here?” He knew. He had to know.

Ted sat up, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. Charlotte was crouching on the floor, naked, clutching her phone white knuckled. “What the fucks up?”

Shut up, she mouthed at Ted, hoping with all of her heart that Sam hadn’t heard the extra voice in the room and that her excuse would be good enough for him.

“A friend of mine from my book club, she called me, said it was an emergency and that she needed someone to watch her kid while she went out to get medicine for him so…”

It was awful watching Charlotte slip back into herself, let her voice go back to that submissive mousiness, her soul shrinking. “Yes…” She started dressing, gathering up her things. “I’ll be right there…” Maybe if Ted had confessed she would stay? “I know...I love you…” Fuck.

She was heading for the door.

“Charlotte,” he called out.

It was too late. His Charlotte was gone. Her eyes shone with tears. “I have to go.” She wouldn’t look him in the eye.

“That’s all? You have to go?” A fucking monster was crawling up his throat. “After everything we just did? After everything I said to you? I-”

“It was a mistake.” Her hand was on the door handle.

If she was going to be cruel, so was he. “What was a mistake, Charlotte? Seriously, I want to know. Us fucking”-her face crumpled-“You letting me fuck you senseless, you enjoying letting me fuck you senseless, was that a fucking mistake? Has Sam ever done anything like that to you?”

Her voice was meek, but her words were a hurricane, pulling down the room around him. “You know what, Ted. You’re a shitty person. And you’re right, no one likes you.” She opened the door. “This-us-is never happening again.”

The moment Charlotte left, Ted was screaming into the pillow that they’d shared. If he could start the night over-but he couldn’t change anything, because he was in fucking love with Charlotte and he meant nothing to her and he was fucking stranded at some shitty motel in the middle of the goddamn night covered in the memories of what their bodies had done together.

Charlotte didn’t start the car right away. She sat, pressing her head against the steering wheel, tears streaming down her face, breath so ragged she thought she might die.

In a few minutes, she would clean herself up and go home to Sam. But for now she would replay the night in her mind. She would pretend that Ted had told her that he loved her and it had changed things, because her head hurt and her hands shook for want of it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I appreciate comments and thoughts!


End file.
